Hell Storm
by xXBalorBabeXx
Summary: They had been stranded at the Performance Centre that night... they didn't think much about it at first.
1. Chapter 1

" _You're insane, get the hell outta there!" Amanda screamed, trying to pull Elmira out of the Tardis but Elmira shoved her away._

" _Get back to the others! You have to, they need you!" Elmira says._

" _Elmira, they need you too! Please!" Amanda says as tears started forming, Elmira resting her hands on Amanda's shoulders._

" _I've had a good run, kid… get back to them, I'll find you guys after." Elmira says, brushing Amanda's tears away._

" _El…" Amanda says, both jumping when the flames on the Tardis rose in height and the alarms increased in volume._

" _Go." Elmira says, Amanda turning and running._

 _The desert was excruciatingly cold, the bitter winds nipping at Amanda's bare skin as she ran._

 _Looking back, Amanda saw the doors close… and tripped and fell as the Tardis exploded._

 _On her scraped up hands and knees, Amanda let her tears fall and herself fall to the ground as she sobbed, tires screeching to a stop and a door flying open._

 _Amanda screamed and backed away, only to see Seth when her eyes snapped open and Seth crouching down in front of her._

" _She's gone… she's gone, she's gone…" Amanda whispered, repeating it over and over and Seth realising it and shaking Amanda in a violent manner._

" _What do you mean Elmira's gone?!" Seth yelled._

" _She's dead! The Tardis exploded with her in it!" Amanda shouted after Seth yanked her up to her feet, Seth's hand slapping across her face in anger and denial._

" _Seth, what the hell did you hit her for?!" Finn yells after stopping his Altima, getting out and running to the two, pulling Amanda into his arms._

" _Elmira's dead because of her!" Seth yells._

" _She said she'd make it back to us… to run… I'm so sorry." Amanda says, her voice rough and her eyes red from crying as she turned back to Seth… and both her's and Finn's eyes widened when they saw the knife in his hand. Thinking quickly, Amanda shoved Finn out of the way and the knife blade lodged into her chest._

" _No!" Finn screamed, catching Amanda in his arms and trying to stop the bleeding… but Seth just turned around and left…_

25 year old Amanda's eyes snapped open, 34 year old Finn rubbing his own eyes before reaching over and wrapping his arm around Amanda's waist.

"It's okay, lass. It was just a bad dream." Finn says in a comforting tone, everything flashing back to Amanda.

The storm had left them and others stranded at the Performance Centre, caused a blackout and at some point, Amanda had fallen asleep because when she looked down, she saw that her and Finn were in the ring, pillows under their heads and a blanket over them.

But Amanda had no idea as to who Elmira was… she didn't remember meeting anyone named Elmira.

Amanda turned to face Finn, resting her head on his right shoulder as they heard the howling rain and wind outside.

"Wicked storm… think we'll be here for longer than we thought." Amanda says quietly, Finn noticing that she was trying to change the subject.

Although only having known each other for just a little over a year, the two had become close enough to the point that people had speculated about the exact nature of their bond.

"Tell me what scared you, what your nightmare was about." Finn says, Amanda looking at him through the dimmed candlelight nearby.

"You… you knew it wasn't just the storm…" Amanda says, her voice cracking slightly as it got stuck in her throat.

"What about a nightmare?" Both heard, looked and saw a soaked and half asleep Sami.

"Sami, what were you doing out in that storm?" Amanda asks.

"I heard some strange noises." Sami says.

"What kind? Someone trying to break in?" Amanda asks.

"More like an engine but it sounded strange, I thought someone's car was drowning outside and they were stuck." Sami says.

Amanda and Finn pulled themselves up, Amanda hissing slightly as a dull ache shot through her back from sleeping on the mat before the three headed to the nearest window.

The damage made Amanda cringe slightly as she saw a utility post had crashed onto a car, Finn lightly rubbing his hand up and down her back… and through the rain, they saw something that match Sami's description.

"Guys…" Amanda says, Sami and Finn seeing what the small brunette saw. "This is just storm madness, right?" She asks.

The two followed Sami outside after he grabbed an umbrella, the doors of the Tardis opening at the same time…

Elmira growled when she realised that she had shown up in the middle of a torrential thunderstorm… before seeing the three across from her.

"Hello…" Amanda says, Elmira seeing her disheveled hair.

"Hi. And leave it to me to show up here in the middle of hurricane season." Elmira says.

"You've… been here before?" Amanda asks, jumping slightly when lightning flashed in the sky and Finn putting his left arm around her in a comforting manner.

But it was what Sami saw in the distance that had him and the other three running into the Performance Centre and ducking to the ground as glass flew everywhere from the tornado, Amanda and Finn under a heavy table and him shielding her from the glass.

Elmira heard the alarms of her Tardis, although the alarms were faint compared to the noise of the tornado, and tried to stand up, Sami yanking her back onto the ground.

"Leave it, it's not worth dying over!" Sami shouts.

"You don't understand, it's all I have left of home!" Elmira yells.

The tornado eventually passed by them and the four sat up, Amanda checking Finn for any injuries and seeing a few cuts from the glass.

"I'm okay… don't worry." Finn says, the two hugging tightly as Elmira slapped Sami.

"Ow!" Sami yells, rubbing his face.

"You idiot!" Elmira shouts.

"That's the thanks I get for saving your life, lady?!" Sami asks.

"Holding me from saving the _only_ piece of my home and family I have left!" Elmira shouts before running out into the still storming, now ruined streets.

"The hell is going on here?!" All three heard, looked and saw Alexa.

"That damn tornado tore up that woman's strange vehicle." Sami says, Amanda finding a first aid kit and taking the small shards of glass out of Finn's arms before fixing them up.

Outside, Elmira looked over the Tardis and tried to start it… only for the engine to make the same sound that a stalled car would make.

"Anything I can do to help, miss?" Elmira heard, looked and saw Samoa Joe.

"No… not with this. Looks like I'm stuck here." Elmira says, the two heading back into the building.

"Some storm, huh? I don't know how Mandy's dealt with it, living in Florida for the past ten years." Joe says.

"She's not a native here?" Elmira asks.

"She was born and raised in Massachusetts. Moved here with her brother back in 2005… are you a native here? What's your name?" Joe says.

"Elmira… and I'm far from native." Elmira says.

"I'm Joe… and I live over in California. Not exactly used to this kind of weather." Joe says, him and Elmira seeing the others.

"Some damn storm, huh? Welcome to Florida." Amanda says, trying not to sound as shaken as she was but Elmira could tell from looking at her.


	2. Chapter 2

It was a while before the generator had kicked on and Amanda got a strong enough signal to respond to a text from Hunter.

' _Storm stranded us at the Performance Centre… and someone else too.'_

' _They okay?'_ Hunter replied.

' _She's shaken more than anything.'_ Amanda replied, Elmira seeing the blanket and pillows in the ring.

"Looks like you all turned this into a campout of sorts." Elmira says.

"Sort of… we tend to stick together during storms like these. But the pillows and blanket in the ring, that was most likely them." Joe says, motioning to Finn and Amanda.

"Just… how old is she?" Elmira asks.

"25… you thought that she looks younger, didn't you?" Joe says.

"Trust me, older than she looks is no stranger to me." Elmira says.

"Appearances are very deceiving." Joe says as once again, his two friends were curled up under the blanket.

Elmira looked out the boarded up window again, seeing her Tardis still there… before seeing another one appear next to it and running outside.

The Doctor was cautious as he walked outside, surveying the damage.

"Damn…" The Doctor says, him seeing Elmira. "Elmira, are you alright?!" He asks.

"Physically… my Tardis, that's another matter." Elmira says, the Doctor seeing the damage done by the tornado.

"Damn… when people say stay indoors during weather like this, they mean it. Anyone harmed in that building?" The Doctor says, pointing to the Performance Centre.

"One guy with a few cuts on his arms, protecting someone from the tornado…" Elmira says, walking to her Tardis and running her hand along its side.

Heading into the building, the Doctor noticed the sets of sleepy eyes looking at him as if they were questioning why he was here.

"Are you stranded too?" Bayley asks.

"Not so much but… Elmira wouldn't leave her Tardis. She could be surrounded by about every vehicle in the world and still be stranded because her van isn't there… yeah… she has a van called Tardis." The Doctor says.

"Unique name for it." Bayley says, the Doctor seeing that in the ring, Amanda was trying to stay awake. "Mandy tries to sleep through storms… but something woke her up before the tornado hit." She says, hearing a low humming sound and jumping slightly… only to see the sonic.

"It… sort of senses how she's feeling…" The Doctor says as he walked to them.

"It wasn't like any of my other nightmares… apart from Seth being angry in it. But that woman… she seemed damn determined to protect it. And then it just exploded… killing her." Amanda says, leaned against Finn as one of his arms was wrapped around her back, her arms around him.

"Everything okay?" The Doctor asks.

"Yeah. The storm just has her a bit wound up." Finn says.

Finding the vending and snack machines, Elmira looked it over with Joe and Sami.

"All this sugar will go straight to your brains… and half of the things are missing." Elmira says.

"Leave it to Mandy to take all the chocolate covered pretzels and vitamin water." Sami mutters.

"I got her into drinking that, figured it was better on her heart than Monster energy drinks." Joe says, turning to Elmira. "What do you normally drink?" He asks.

"Not much you'll find here… me and the Doctor are people of teas." Elmira says.

"She'll drink those too, mostly green tea." Sami says, putting a screwdriver in the lock of the machine and opening it.

"What the hell, Sami?!" Joe says angrily.

"It ate all my quarters!" Sami says, handing a few bags of Cheetos to Elmira and Doritos to Joe.

When they reached the rest of the group, Elmira saw Amanda checking channel 13 for weather updates.

"What's the story, kiddo?" Joe asks.

"Roads are closed on I-4 and US1 all the way through Flagler county." Amanda says, evoking a few frustrated groans from the others.

"Damn it!" Alexa says, kicking a crate in frustration.

"If we can… get my van back, it'll get through. Trust me, nothing's gonna stop it from getting through any roadblock." Elmira says.

"Let's go salvage it… has it stopped raining?" Amanda says, putting her phone away.

"Yep." The Doctor says after looking outside.

"Joe, you still have those jumper cables?" Finn asks.

"Somewhere." Joe says, him, Finn and Amanda heading outside to the Chevy Equinox and Joe seeing Amanda turn a bit pale when she saw the K Bar knife in the car.

"I thought… you got rid of that." Amanda says quietly.

"You really are shook up." Joe says, opening the back and finding the cables before closing the door and all three heading back to Elmira.

Connecting the cables to both batteries, Joe started the Equinox and Elmira started the Tardis, yelling happily when it started up and the engine roared.

"Brilliant old van from England, even when it's fake!" Elmira shouts before turning the engine off again and getting out, Amanda finding it a bit strange that she would unlock the rear doors with what looked like some kind of diamond shaped token key. Swinging open both doors, she waved everyone in before climbing inside.

"You can't drive it from the back, love!" Finn says as everyone headed for the van in a confused manner.

"Trust me, I can!" Elmira shouts from inside, everyone glancing at each other as it sounded a lot more echoed than it should have for a van, even of the long wheel base.

Climbing inside, they found themselves confused… everyone at once fit a whole lot easier than it looked like they would and they couldn't see any sign of the back wall… then were even more confused as a small gap in the clouds illuminated into the van, shining light a lot further in than it should have.

"That's just… that is not right!" Sami says, moments before a deep 'clang' rattled through everyone's chests and the sound of electrical equipment turning on echoed, lights flickering on one by one around the whole room, a room many times bigger than the van outside. Once all lights were on, they were faced with a distance of about 50 meters from the door to the opposite wall, stairs immediately in front of them leading to a raised glass deck on which Elmira stood, next to a control console in a hexagonal layout, a deep and dark purple rotor in the center within a blackened glass column which disappeared into the ceiling.

" _This_ … is the Tardis." Elmira says, half sat on the console edge.

"A lot bigger than it looked at first… probably fit the whole NXT roster in here along with Raw and SmackDown." Amanda says.

"Hey, beyond those two doors-" Elmira says, pointing to a door to her right on the floor under the glass deck and a second to her back-left quarter on the same level as the deck on the other side of a short walkway. "-are so many corridors and rooms that nor I or the Doctor have been able to work out how far it goes. In this whole ship, you could fit the whole state if not the whole East coast." She says, sliding off the console and flicking a small switch which closed the entrance van doors behind everyone.

Starting the Tardis, Elmira reached the address put into the console as everyone either held onto each other or a column. When the doors opened, everyone walked outside and into the apartment building, finding everything intact.

"Tornado missed this area by pure luck." Sami says.

"Yeah… it did." Amanda says, pulling her slightly damp Balor Club hoodie off. "Thank you… for getting us back here. We were all trying to keep from going crazy there." She says to Elmira.

"You're welcome… that building held up pretty well too." Elmira says.

"Well the Sunshine State has weathered more than its fair share of disasters but I haven't seen a tornado since 2005 when hurricane Wilma struck Key West… I really hope there's never gonna be another like it or one as bad as Andrew was in 1992." Amanda says.

"That one left Florida looking like a war zone." The Doctor says, Amanda looking at him.

"You were in Miami when it struck?" Amanda asks, Elmira seeing Alexa still looking at the Tardis from the window and walking to her.

"Is there any way… to protect it from that again?" Alexa asks.

"That Tardis has stood up to a lot of damage… it bounces back from it." Elmira says.


	3. Chapter 3

After some of the others had left, Finn went upstairs to check on Amanda and found her… but when he did, she was covered in a towel and drying off, jumping back when she saw him.

"Sorry… anyone else still here?" Amanda says, putting her hair up in another towel and trying to stay covered up.

"Elmira and the Doctor are as well as Sami, Bayley and Joe." Finn says, hearing Amanda's phone chime and seeing another text from Seth.

' _Are you still stranded there?!'_

"Is it bad that I'm too freaked out to talk to him over something that only happened in a nightmare? I feel stupid for ignoring him." Amanda says, Finn resting his hand on her back. "He's one of my closest friends… we argue at times but it's never gotten physical." She says.

"It's not bad… just give yourself time to calm down." Finn says, the two hugging before they let go.

Downstairs, the Doctor was watching Tv and Elmira set a cup of coffee in front of him.

"Thanks… where'd they go?" The Doctor says, having not seen Finn or Amanda for a while.

"He went upstairs to go check on her… she seemed like she saw a ghost when she first saw me, I wonder what her nightmare was about." Elmira says, Sami answering his phone.

"Hey… yeah, we made it back safe." Sami says.

"Then why isn't Mandy answering her phone?!" Seth asks.

"She's getting cleaned off… and she had a nightmare. Not exactly sure what it was about." Sami says, Elmira walking to him. "Are you gonna hit me again?" He asks.

"I can if you want, easily." Elmira says.

"That's not Mandy. Who is that?" Seth says, Elmira taking the phone from Sami.

"Name's Elmira. Your friend's upstairs, getting cleaned off." Elmira says.

"Is she okay, any injuries?!" Seth asks.

"Physically, she's okay… the storm shook her up a bit." Elmira says, seeing Amanda head downstairs dressed in pajamas and her curly hair still wet and handing her the phone.

"I'm okay. We're hiding out, the worst of the storm's over." Amanda says, Seth noticing the tension in her voice.

"You sound scared, Mandy." Seth says.

"Tornado touched down, destroyed some vehicles and windows… it looks like a war zone out here." Amanda says, her ears still ringing slightly.

"I'm over in Cocoa Beach, I can drive over." Seth says.

"Wait until they lift the roadblocks, okay?" Amanda asks, letting a slight yelp escape from her mouth when she felt Finn's arms wrap around her waist and Seth nearly dropping his phone.

"What was that?!" Seth asks, Elmira holding Sami's phone now as Finn tickled Amanda.

"Friend of hers tickling her." Elmira says as she glanced at the two.

"But everything's okay? She's not harmed?" Seth asks.

"No harm." Elmira says, the two hanging up.

Sami headed outside, Bayley looking at the Tardis in a distant way.

"Mandy's not talking to Seth all that much… whatever it was that scared her, I think it also involves Elmira." Bayley says, confusing Sami.

"How? We all just met her." Sami says.

"Yes but we've known Mandy for years and we know when something's not right… come on, she's like a little sister to us." Bayley says.

"To you and me… it's something different between her and Finn." Sami says.

"He didn't watch her grow up… that does tend to decide things like that, the connection between people." Bayley says.

"Yeah." Sami says.

In the living room, Amanda was struggling to keep her eyes open and leaned against Finn, who looked at her in concern.

"I don't want to close my eyes… I don't want to see it again." Amanda says.

"It was really that bad, wasn't it?" Finn asks, Amanda nodding… but it wasn't long before she was out like a light and he picked her up into his arms, heading upstairs.

When it was a few hours later, Sami and Bayley as well as the Doctor and Elmira were waking up to Seth knocking on the door. Rubbing her face, Bayley stood up and walked to the door, opening it.

"She crashed out hours ago." Bayley says, letting Seth into the apartment.

"That bad of a storm? How are the others holding up?" Seth asks, closing the door.

"Okay… mostly." Bayley says, thinking back.

 _ **12 hours earlier, Performance Centre…**_

" _Damn… sorry, guys, looks like we're stuck here until it blows over." Bayley says after she and Sami returned to Finn, Amanda, Alexa, Joe and the others._

" _No rain today, they said. Sunny skies, they said… I've gotta stop watching the weather reports for Fox 35! Accurate weather, my ass!" Alexa growled, Finn seeing the tense look on Amanda's face._

 _Thinking quickly, Finn took Amanda towards the locker room and the two grabbed their things, some pillows and a blanket before heading to the ring and setting the pillows down before sitting down._

 _Stretching out next to Amanda, Finn pulled the blanket over them and Amanda pulled herself closer to him after digging her MacBook pro out as well as the third season DvD of Miami Vice._

 _They settled down and watched When Irish Eyes Are Crying, never leaving each other's side during it. Amanda had a hard time deciding which season out of the classic series was her favorite, she loved the show and wished that it had ran longer than five seasons._

" _I wish Gina and Sonny's romantic relationship had worked out at times… but I think they were better off as friends. There's also part of me that imagined her and Martin together." Amanda says, Finn chuckling slightly but he agreed with Amanda._

" _They would've been a damn good couple during the show… I can imagine the higher ups getting a bit riled up because of him being her boss but love works in different ways. Why should it be stopped or prevented?" Finn says, Amanda's head lazily resting on his right shoulder._

 _Alexa watched the two with narrowed eyes, wondering if this was what Seth meant when he mentioned that there had been some tension between him and Amanda as of late._

 _But before she could say anything, the power blew out and the howling of the wind and rain outside got louder..._


	4. Chapter 4

**Present time…**

"And for those of you in the Central Florida area, it seems that yesterday's storm is calmed down though we advise caution if you need to-" The news reporter says, Finn turning the Tv off and turning to the still sleeping brunette next to him.

On the space between them on the bed was the script for the next NXT show… and it had him a bit worried.

Amanda's eyes fluttered opened and she turned to face him before seeing the script… the part circled in red was what got her attention though.

"Is this… Hunter's idea? I'm assuming they didn't run it by him yet, right?" Amanda asks, seeing the part where she's supposed to be 'choked' with a silk tie.

"Forget Hunter's reaction, I'm more worried about the angry mob of veteran superstars that watched you grow up. They'll murder me." Finn says, Amanda getting an idea.

"Let's practice it first." Amanda says, finding a tie and handing it to Finn before readjusting herself to where she was on her knees on the bed… and noticing Finn hesitating slightly as he carefully placed the tie around her neck and applied a little pressure. "You're worried about hurting me, Balor… don't worry." She whispers, reaching her right arm behind her and squeezing his right hip, which got him to relax.

At that moment, Seth's head snapped up and Elmira and Bayley tried to stop him from charging upstairs.

"Now just calm down!" Elmira says.

"Something is wrong, I can sense it!" Seth growls, hearing the Doctor's sonic make a loud humming noise.

The Doctor headed upstairs, knocking on the door. Within seconds, it unlocked and Amanda was stood there, a faint red mark on her neck.

"Is he freaking out downstairs?" Amanda asks, Finn putting the tie away.

"We were just practicing what the…" Finn starts to say, the Doctor seeing the script as Seth charged upstairs… and his rage took over. "Seth, don't do anything crazy! I wasn't hurting her!" He says, scrambling off of the bed and Seth trying to charge at him but Amanda held him against the wall.

"Now just calm your ass down, Seth!" Amanda says, showing him the script for next Wednesday.

"So you were just running through the script?" Seth asks.

"Yes. They won't let us try this on the main programming, not in this era. Now if I let you go, don't attack him, okay?" Amanda says, her small right hand gripping Seth's jaw.

Seth nodded, Amanda letting go and backing up. Seth glared at Finn before heading downstairs, the Doctor following him to try to calm him down.

"She never used to try things like this… even if it was staged, she never turned to S&M themes." Seth says.

"How long have you known her?" The Doctor asks.

"Since she was 19. Even then, there was some innocence to her." Seth says.

"There always is… compared to what me and Elmira have seen and been through, you're all hardly any less innocent than children " The Doctor says.

"It was… just blindsiding. I know there's gonna be an angry mob of wrestlers when they see that and they've known her since she was 10 years old. It's hard to not see her as a kid." Seth says.

"They all grow up… have to let them." Elmira says, Seth seeing Amanda and Finn walk downstairs.

"So no murdering?" Finn asks.

"No murdering." Seth says.

The Doctor nodded… before hearing a knock at the door, walking over and opening it, Dean turning confused.

"Hello…" Dean says.

"Hi. No, you haven't got the wrong building, I'm a dragged along visitor." The Doctor says.

"Dragged along?" Dean asks after walking in, him and Amanda hugging. "Kiddo, you're shaking." He says, lightly kissing her on her forehead.

"The storm rattled her a bit." Finn says, Dean seeing the redness on Amanda's neck after they let go.

"And who snuck up and tried to strangle her?" Dean asked in a tone that meant _'I want the fucking truth or I'm gonna break your fucking legs!'._

"Relax, Dean." Amanda says, handing the NXT script to Dean and Dean reading it.

"Ah, all part of the script." Dean says.

"See? No harm." Amanda says.

"The main roster's not gonna see it that way, kiddo." Dean says.

"How many overprotective extended family members are there?" Elmira asks.

"Quite a lot." Amanda says.

 **Next Wednesday,** _ **NXT…**_

"Oi, she wasn't kidding." The Doctor says as he and Elmira surveyed Full Sail University and saw the NXT roster crowded around the monitors.

"Here it is." Elmira says, watching carefully and seeing the segment go on as how Finn and Amanda practiced… but from the rageful look in Joe's eyes, she could tell that his reaction wasn't scripted.

Without any warning, Joe ran up the ramp and started attacking Finn, Amanda trying to intervene and receiving a punch to her face for it, blood pouring from her nose and Finn immediately by her side as Joe's eyes widened in horror.

Amanda was covering her face, which muffled her cries as Finn tried to pry her hands away to see how bad it was, Joe walking towards them.

"Back off!" Amanda screamed, kicking at Joe.

"Mandy, I'm so sorry!" Joe says, Finn holding Amanda close to him and glaring at Joe. "Finn, it was an accident!" He says, Finn picking Amanda up into his arms before standing up and taking her to the back.

"Oh, fuck, how bad?!" Enzo asks as he, Colin, the Doctor and Elmira ran to them followed by several others and the Doctor scanning Amanda over with the sonic but she wouldn't look at him.

"Get her to look at me… I know she's scared but I also know it's not just her nose." The Doctor says, Finn turning to the small brunette in his arms.

"That… that look, don't make that look!" Enzo says as the Doctor examined the sonic readings.

"Crushed nose cartilage, fracture in the right eye socket and the potential for a massive lump of a bruise." The Doctor says.

Amanda looked at him… and he also noticed her lateral right incisor was gone.

"Uh… Enzo, start looking around that ring for an incisor, would you?" The Doctor asks.

Enzo and Colin left, finding the tooth and returning to them, Amanda now being tended to by paramedics.

"Damn… I haven't seen her like this before." Colin says, Enzo handing the tooth to the Doctor.

"Elmira… yours is the fancy one." The Doctor says, Elmira taking the tooth and crouching down by Amanda, sonic in her other hand.

"Mandy… this is gonna hurt but you won't regret it later." Elmira says, showing the tooth.

Amanda nodded… and seconds later, another painful scream escaped her mouth as after placing the tooth back in the gum, Elmira's sonic released a 'blink and you miss it' speed bolt of golden laser energy, which had reconnected the nerves in the tooth.

As Joe reached the area, it was Colin who stopped him.

"She's downright traumatized now…" Colin says, Joe seeing Finn holding Amanda close to him again.

"Damn it… I didn't mean to hit her that hard, I swear." Joe says, trying to stay calm.

"No, you didn't mean to hit her any amount of strength or weakness, you just wanted to hit her, how can you be so damn ruthless?!" Colin says.

"I thought it was security guards trying to pull me off of Finn! You didn't see what they were doing out there?" Joe says.

"Scripted, Joe! You know he cares about her too much to hurt her!" Colin says angrily.

As she was being put in the ambulance with Finn by her side, Amanda looked at her arguing friends in worry and Finn lightly brushed her hair back.

"We're all in trouble." Amanda manages to say.

"Not us… not you and me." Finn says, Amanda's right hand gripped in his left one.


	5. Chapter 5

**Florida Hospital…**

"He hit her that damn hard?! Son of a bitch! Where is she?!" Seth yelled in complete panic after Enzo had called him.

"The ER at Florida Hospital… they're gonna take her to surgery soon." Enzo says, Seth nearly dropping his phone.

"Surgery?! How much damage?!" Seth asks.

"Crushed nose cartilage and broken eye socket…" Enzo says, the Doctor seeing John run in and to the ER desk and walking over to him.

"Have you seen my little sister? Her name's Amanda, she's got long brown hair, hazel eyes, she's 25 years old. I got a phone call saying that she's here." John says.

"Third room down the hall." The Doctor says, John reaching the room and finding Amanda in a hospital gown, hooked up to an IV and half out of it from the Morphine, a hellish bruise taking up half of her face as she stayed near Finn, who was also bruised.

"John…" Amanda says, having trouble seeing out of her right eye as he walked over to her left and kissed her on her forehead. "I look like a real mess now, don't I?" She asks, trying to joke because the Morphine was making her feel wacky and because she was turned slightly to him, John noticed the thin trail of blood from her mouth and looked closer.

"Finn, you did a damn good job at putting her tooth back in." John says, assuming that it was Finn who had done that.

"It… wasn't me." Finn says as Elmira walked in.

"I… fixed up her tooth." Elmira says.

"Thank you." John says.

Waking up from surgery hours later, Amanda was heavily disoriented and struggled to keep her eyes open as she felt bandages on her right eye and nose and tried to take the one on her right eye off, Finn stopping her.

"That's there to protect the eye itself, Mandy." Finn says, Amanda trying to talk but couldn't move her mouth all that well.

' _Am I blind in that eye?'_ Amanda mouths.

"No… the coronea got a bit damaged though but it should heal." Finn says, Amanda seeing several others walk in.

"One at a time, okay? She just woke up." The Doctor says, Seth, Dean, Roman, Enzo and Colin backing off but not leaving the room.

"Why isn't she talking?" Roman asks.

"They used some anaesthetic while fixing her nose and eye socket. Her mouth's numb." Finn says.

Dean headed into the hallway to try to control his anger… and then felt a hand on his shoulder, lunging at the person and grabbing them as they screamed… only to realise it was Becky, Dean backing off.

"Sorry, Becky." Dean says.

"It's bad in there, isn't it? How's Mandy holding up?" Becky asks.

"Cracked eye socket, eye now covered as it was a bit damaged, nose held together with tape and anaesthetically mute." Dean says.

"Fucking Joe! She was only trying to protect Finn!" Becky growled, Dean trying to calm the redheaded woman down.

"Joe says he didn't know it was her at first, only realised it when she was on the ground." Dean says.

"You don't believe him?" Becky asks.

"I didn't say that… what I say is that he should learn to move his eyes before his fists in future, he's getting beyond reckless lately." Dean says.

"He is… remember how mad Natalya was when Joe broke Tyson's spine a few months ago?" Becky says, Dean remembering Natalya hitting Joe with a food tray.

The two walked into the room and Becky and Amanda hugged, Amanda trying to talk but her words were incoherent and strung together.

"It's okay… just let it wear off, kiddo." Becky says before they let go, Amanda managing to write something down on a notepad.

' _He's never once hit me before this! Even when I've slapped him out of anger!'_

"I know… he just needs to be careful and look before hitting." Becky says, rubbing Amanda's left shoulder.

' _Has anyone called Hunter or Stephanie yet?'_ Amanda mouthed.

"We're a bit scared to do that… it's like kicking the hornet's nest." Dean says.

Amanda looked at Finn and he knew that look… she wanted to go home. Reaching over, Finn took her into his arms and she let her tears fall again as she hung onto him.

It took some searching but Seth and Elmira found Joe, Seth grabbing Joe by his shirt and punching him across the face.

"Has she gone silent again?!" Joe asks as he brushed his blood away as Elmira struggled to restrain Seth.

"You punched her so hard that she needed surgery to fix her nose and eye socket!" Seth yells.

"Surgery?! She's not holding up at all, I swear I never meant to hit her that hard! I… I lost it when he had that tie around her neck!" Joe says.

"Wait… they didn't tell you beforehand, did they?" Seth says, asking the last part.

"You know sometimes, they don't so our reactions are more realistic… too realistic in this case." Joe says.

"To the point where you were ready to murder Finn." Seth says.

"In that moment it looked like he was ready to murder Amanda, what else could I do?" Joe says.

"That overprotectiveness comes out… she's like a little sister to you both." Elmira says.

"And I scarred her for life." Joe says, trying not to cry.

Heading to the hospital, Joe cautiously walked into the room and Amanda pointed to her mouth to indicate that it was numb.

"I'm so sorry, kiddo… and Finn, I'm sorry for hurting you too." Joe says after walking over to them, Finn nodding.

Sipping some water to try to make the numbness wear off quicker, Amanda stopped after a bit and wiped the trail of water away.

"Joe?" Amanda says, Joe looking at her. "We were a bit freaked out to tell you about what was in the script… but he wasn't hurting me." She says, Joe seeing a faint red mark left behind by the tie.

"Hell, I didn't even want to do it at first… we practiced for almost a week, the 'choking' was only supposed to last for close to a minute." Finn says, Amanda seeing the text from Hunter.

' _Saw what happened… everything calmed down there?'_

' _Yes… just gonna take some time to get back to normal.'_ Amanda replies.

' _Take all the time you need, kiddo.'_ Hunter replies.

' _Okay.'_ Amanda replied… but as the others knew, off time drove Amanda a bit crazy.

Reaching over, Finn rested his left hand on Amanda's right thigh, Amanda looking at him.

"It'll be okay… sometimes we all need time off." Finn says, Amanda's hand resting on his.


	6. Chapter 6

**A few days later…**

"Just one at a time." Finn says, carefully guiding Amanda to the couch as Bayley, the Doctor, Elmira, Sami, Joe, Enzo and Cass followed them into the apartment.

"Tiny, you okay?" Enzo asks.

"Enzo, that's the millionth time you've asked me. If I wasn't okay, they wouldn't have let me leave the hospital." Amanda says once she was on the couch.

"Yeah, I think we're gonna drive her mad." Enzo says, Finn taking Amanda upstairs.

Amanda looked in the mirror in the room, hesitating a bit as she reached for the bandages over her eye and nose even though she had been given the okay to take them off sometimes.

"What if I look in that mirror and see myself as a monster?" Amanda asks quietly, remembering the aftermath of Joey Mercury's injury from Armageddon 2006 as Finn rubbed his left hand up and down her back.

"You're not a monster, Mandy. You never could be." Finn says in a comforting tone.

Amanda carefully pulled the bandages off… and looked up, the reddish purple bruise taking up half of her face but her nose wasn't bent and her eye was held together.

"See? The bruises will fade… you're still the same beautiful girl." Finn says, Amanda smiling slightly.

"You always know what to say to make me feel better…" Amanda says as the two hugged.

After getting cleaned off, Amanda was once again in pajamas and sat down next to Finn as the Doctor checked on them.

"Hey… everyone going stir crazy?" Amanda says, giving the Doctor a slightly lopsided smile.

"About you, always." The Doctor says.

"They usually do… whenever one of us gets hurt." Amanda says, lightly rubbing the right side of her mouth when it ached.

Downstairs, Elmira was struggling to stay awake as she saw the worried look on Sami's face.

"She seems to be holding up okay… but what if that's just an act? What if she's not letting us see how she's really feeling? I did that after my shoulder injury." Sami says.

"Processing it takes time… she seems to be holding up okay." Elmira says before the Doctor, Finn and Amanda headed downstairs, Sami and Amanda hugging.

Amanda dozed off later, Finn lightly brushing her hair away from her face and once again seeing the bruises that matched Joe's fist, which made his anger towards Joe resurface… but he wouldn't act on it and rubbed Amanda's right side when she stirred fitfully in her sleep before seeing a text from his brother Conor.

' _Saw what happened. How's your friend holding up?'_

' _She's asleep now… she seems to be holding up okay so far.'_ Finn replied.

' _I'm surprised she was conscious after that punch. You didn't go and kill him, did you?'_ Conor replies.

' _I'm sorely tempted to… she's so damn little, he could've seriously hurt her.'_ Finn replied, Amanda's sleepy eyes looking at him.

"Conor saw it happen?" Amanda asks through a sleepy yawn, sitting up after Finn locked his right arm around her back.

Amanda curled up closer to Finn, who brought his left arm around her too after her arms instinctively wrapped around him.

"Yes… and he's wondering if I've gone and killed Joe." Finn says, kissing Amanda on her forehead before they stretched out on the couch.

"After what happened… I can't blame him for wondering that." Amanda says as she turned to where she was on her left side, Finn's arms wrapping around her and him holding her to his side.

The two talked for a bit after Amanda started to relax more, Amanda stretching her right leg out and lining it up with Finn's left leg after he rested his left hand on her right side and the two letting quiet laughs out at their actions as his hand rested on her lower back.

She didn't mind it… she was used to Seth as well as other male friends like Enzo and Baron touching her like that, every friendship in this business had a certain intimacy to it.

Amanda had fallen asleep at some point… and Finn took her upstairs, tucking her into his bed.

Finn stretched out next to Amanda, brushing her hair out of her face.

' _Joe went too far… could've killed her if he had hit her harder.'_ Finn thought, closing his sleepy blue eyes after a while.

 **Amanda's perspective…**

" _Get off of him, Joe! Stop, you'll kill him!" I yell, trying to pry Joe off of Finn… I somehow manage to but that's when Joe hits me._

 _And it doesn't stop at one… he's hitting me repeatedly even as I'm on the ground and screaming, frantically trying to protect my head… I don't want another head injury or seizure happening to me._

" _Let him choke you like you're tied to his headboard, think you can get away with that?! You killed what's left of your innocence, Mandy!" Joe yelled, him being pulled off of me by a bruised and bleeding Finn, who crouches down and presses his forehead to mine, his hands cupping my face like he usually does._

 _Joe isn't done yet though… but before I can warn Finn, both of our heads are smacked together and we lose consciousness..._

"Mandy… Mandy, it's okay!"

My eyes snap open, tears trailing down my face and my heart beating too fast… before I nestle my head into Finn's torso and let it out, his hand rubbing up and down my back.

"Shh… it's okay, it's okay, let it all out." Finn whispers, kissing the top of my head as his arms wrapped around me and we hang onto each other.

I was reliving it… but it wasn't just one punch in my nightmare, there were countless of them… and then Joe turned his rage onto Finn.

That's what scared me the most, thinking that Joe was gonna kill him for that… I'm still shaking when I tilt my head up and look at Finn, who brushes my tears away.

"I'm right here, I'm not going anywhere, Mandy… you're safe. It's not happening again." Finn whispered as my head settled back onto his torso and I hear his heart beating strongly under the skin.

There was a time when I wouldn't wake up screaming from a nightmare… but it seems like it was a lifetime ago.


End file.
